1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices to induce a massaging motion over a certain area of a patient""s body. In particular, the device of the present invention relates to back massagers of the type capable of generating the long stroke massaging motions in a way similar to that given by a professional massage therapist. The massaging surface of the invention can be used as a part of many commonly known massaging devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The word xe2x80x9cmassagexe2x80x9d is used in the context of this specification to generally describe a variety of motions over a patient""s body such as rubbing over the skin, rumpling the muscles, slapping or rapping and pressing over various portions of the patient""s body so as to eliminate venous congestion, to stimulate arterial circulation, and to intensify metabolism in various tissues. Although a massage generally can be performed manually by another person, various devices have been described in the prior art that would be either of assistance to the person performing a massage or allow the patient to induce a massage onto himself without the help of others. Specifically, such devices have been proposed for the massage of the patient""s back. They typically incorporate some form of a massaging element, which is designed to induce the massage by transforming a massaging motion generated by the device onto a patient""s skin. In many cases, each massaging device incorporates a plurality of massaging elements in which case they form in combination a massaging surface to cover a portion of the patient""s skin.
The area of the patient""s back presents a special interest for a massaging therapy. Complains of a xe2x80x9cback painxe2x80x9d, especially in the lumbar region, are quite common. In fact, in some cases they can cause severe pains and even become debilitating. It is believed that periodic applications of a massaging therapy can stimulate more blood flow in these areas and therefore relieve these symptoms. On the other hand, as opposed to other portions of the body, the back is difficult to reach for the patient himself Therefore, there is a need for either professional assistance or an apparatus allowing the patient to apply a massage to the back of the body.
A large variety of massagers and massaging devices have been proposed for these purposes. They generally can be divided into two groups. The first one consists of small hand-held devices inducing high frequency vibrations over a limited area of the skin. Although inexpensive and portable, these devices do not allow for a deep massage of the tissue such as what can be given by a professional massage therapist. The second group consists of rather complex back massage devices typically incorporated in a piece of furniture such as a chair or a bed.
Three patents of the prior art are believed to be the closest to the present invention. A massaging device described in the French patent No. 533,487 issued in March of 1922 describes a variety of massaging elements including in particular a device consisting of two rigid arms connected together on one end with a flat leaf spring while the other end of each arm contains a free rotating massaging roller. In application, a compression of the device against a portion of the skin leads to movement of the rollers away from each other thus compressing the skin. Return motion is supported by the action of the leaf spring. Upon close examination, one can easily see a number of substantial limitations of this invention, namely, that only a small portion of the skin can be massaged with this device. To cover a larger area, one has to move it many times from place to place. Also, and perhaps even more importantly, the area between the rollers is not covered by a massaging action at all. The presence of this xe2x80x9cdead zonexe2x80x9d is characteristic to many massaging devices of the prior art.
An improvement of that device is described in a British patent No. GB 442,105 issued in February of 1936. This device contains a plurality of paired massaging elements similar to the previously mentioned French invention. The advantage of this device is that a larger portion of the skin can be covered all at once. At the same time, the presence of the same xe2x80x9cdead zonexe2x80x9d limits the utility of the device. Also, the massaging motion of all the elements is oriented in the same direction, while it is believed that the best massaging effect can be achieved by applying massaging motion in various directions over the same area of the skin.
Finally, Yokoi suggests a version of the chair massager attachment in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,511. Elongated plate members having massaging protrusions with optional leaf springs are described in this U.S. patent as the basis of the massaging apparatus. Reciprocating movements of the plate members cause high frequency vibrational massage to be applied to the patient""s back or other portions of the body held against the apparatus. This apparatus does not have provisions for a deep long stroke massage of the patient""s back wherein the massaging protrusions can move slowly along a substantial portion of the skin rather then frequently hitting a limited area of the skin. In addition, this device is quite large and can not be easily folded for storage.
An important limitation of the above mentioned and many other massaging devices of the prior art is that they are only capable of delivering a longitudinal type of massaging motion. It is highly desirable to provide at least some rotational massaging motion along with longitudinal one.
The need therefore exists for a simple massaging surface allowing for a long stroke deep skin massage, especially over the patient""s back. An apparatus incorporating such massaging surface should be capable of delivering a uniform massage over a large area of the skin without any xe2x80x9cdead zonesxe2x80x9d.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to overcome these and other drawbacks of the prior art by providing a novel massaging surface for delivering a long stroke massage.
Another object of the invention is to provide a massaging surface for delivering massage to large portions of the skin all at the same time.
A further object of the invention is to provide a massaging surface for delivering massage uniformly and without xe2x80x9cdead zonesxe2x80x9d.
A further yet object of the invention is to provide a massaging surface for delivering both longitudinal and rotational massaging motions.
The massaging surface of the invention is principally illustrated on FIG. 1 and is envisioned to be used either as a stand alone massaging mat or as a part of a massaging apparatus. In case of using the massaging surface as a massaging mat, the patient can press the portion of the skin against the mat or vise versa. Alternately, another person can use such mat to press against the patient skin. If part of an apparatus, the surface can be mechanically pressed against the patient by such apparatus.
The massaging surface of the present invention consists of multiple alternating rows of triple arm massaging elements. Each element in turn contains three compressible arms extending radially and upwardly from a common base at the plane of the surface. Radial direction of each arm is offset from the next arm by 120 degrees which makes all three arms symmetrical about the point of their common base. Upward direction of each arm is designed to be at an angle to the plane of the surface ranging between about 35 and 75 degrees. Each arm is made of a leaf spring and terminated with a rounded ball or another commonly know massaging tip adapted to gently compress the skin. Alternating placement of the massaging elements along the massaging surface allows for overlapping the massaging area of each element so that xe2x80x9cdead zonesxe2x80x9d are eliminated. Once the element is pressed against the skin, each massaging ball at the end of each arm is compressed against the skin so that the arm is bent and deflected and the ball is moved away from the base point. Because of the overlapping of the massaging areas of each massaging element, two adjacent balls from neighboring elements are moving towards and sideways to each other. That complex motion creates rotational component of the massage while preventing any xe2x80x9cdead zonesxe2x80x9d from forming. A plurality of such massaging elements provide in combination a long stroke massage close to that of a manual nature. Resilient design of the arms returns the balls in their initial position upon removing the massaging surface away from the skin.
All of the above mentioned and other objects and features of the invention are illustrated on the drawings and described in greater detail below.